Van Gaal admitted the former England full-back was perhaps correct when saying United had “got away with murder” following a 2-1 win at Southampton that owed much to their opponents’ profligacy as well as to a Robin van Persie double, yet questioned some of Neville’s critical comments.
“He can say everything because he is an ex-legend. But as an ex-legend ... or as a legend, you have to know what you are saying. You can interpret that [as you like]. It’s not difficult. He has to pay attention to his words.”
On a night when Edward Glazer, one of Malcolm Glazer’s six children, put three million shares in the club up for sale, Neville said on TV: “United got away with murder tonight. They look shot of confidence. United will be delighted to sit third and think they will get better.”
Van Gaal praised the display of Van Persie but admitted that only three United players had performed to an acceptable level. “He was one of the three players on the pitch of Manchester United who were good or maybe very good. He had a great influence on the result. Very positive,” said Van Gaal.
“Until now it was his best performance. I hope but I have to say I was very pleased with his performance and also his goals. His second was not so easy because the ball was coming towards his right foot and he connected with his left. A nice touch. Normally you have six, seven, eight players who are good. But today there were too many not good, I believe.”
When asked about his withdrawal of the defender Paddy McNair in the first half, the Dutchman added: “He had no confidence, he had given three chances away. It’s very disappointing for me and for Paddy but I had to because as a manager I am responsible. It’s tough but it’s also in his best interests. I have made a lot of changes and all the boys can survive. It is only one match, one moment in a lifetime.”
Koeman insisted his side deserved more from the game yet, despite an impressive performance, they were on the receiving end of a third successive defeat, slipping to fifth after the weekend results. The Southampton manager said “everything is shit because we lost”, despite a number of positives emerging from the game.
“It’s always difficult because you’re the better team and, again, you have to fight against a 1-2 down,” said the Southampton manager. “After that moment I think we didn’t play well. But that’s the difference. At this level detail makes the difference in football. The score is 1-2. You can talk long about who deserved to win, who played the football, who played the offensive football, which team did the pressing, but everything is shit because we lost.
“We like to play football. We had good ball possession. We like to press our opponent very early. We did everything. We created chances. But we did, as well, mistakes. Maybe they did more mistakes than we did but they have players who handle that kind of mistake. That was the difference today.
“If you give players like Van Persie that kind of mistake, he will punish you. There was [Sergio] Agüero, now Van Persie... and we didn’t punish their mistakes. That was the difference in my opinion.”
